Pur:eose: MonopoLOGS has been developed in order to increase our understanding of the kinds of logistical decisions a product manager must make, and what criteria he should consider in making them. As a result MonopoLOGS has been designed to permit a wide range of decision-making, both in the kinds of decisions made, and in the latitude allowed the player in making them. MonopoLOGS is formalized only in broad tenns. It is planned that the basic parameters of the game will be varied in many

more »

... Thus, we shall be able to examine the product manager's reaction to the variations in these basic parameters. MonopoLOGS I, the first game developed, will permit the product manager to make decisions in three broa.d areas: Procurement requirements, stockage distribution, and repair. (We use the term "repair" to mean the overhaul of sp~res and components, and reserve the term "maintenance" to mean the overhaul of the .end item itself.) MonopoLOGS II will include the same three areas of decision-making, plus maintenance and programmed cannibalization. The end result of the study of the Monopol.OGS games will be a set of decision-making rules which will represent an optimization, or perhaps a suboptimization. MonopolOGS itself represents merely a framework in. which alternate decision-making rules, or optimizations, may be tested. MonopoLOGS I and II will be pla.yf)d with one spa.re item, of. recoverable l The developnent of MonopoLOGS is the joint effort of Messrs. s. Enke, M. A. Geisler., W. Hamburger, and the present author.